Asynchronous Climate Changes in the North Atlantic and Japan During the Last Termination

Abstract

Pollen records from the annually laminated sediment sequence in Lake Suigetsu, Japan, suggest a sequence of climate changes during the Last Termination that resembles that of the North Atlantic region but with noticeable differences in timing. An interstadial interval commenced a few centuries earlier [∼15,000 years before the present (yr B.P.)] than the North Atlantic GI-1 (Bölling) event. Conversely, the onset of a Younger Dryas (YD)–like cold reversal (12,300 to 11,250 yr B.P.) postdated the North Atlantic GS-1 (YD) event by a few centuries. Climate in the Far East during the Last Termination reflected solar insolation changes as much as Atlantic influences.